Sectional hull for ships.



1. E. OGDEN.

SECTI' NAL HULL FOR SHIPS.

APPUCATIU FILED SEPT- 9, "915.

Patented May 23,1916.

' 3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

J. E. OGDEN.

SECTIONAL HULL FOR SHIPS.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 91 IQHE."

Patented May 23, 1916.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- If Ill/ff r/ *F J. OGDEN. szcncm nun FOR SHIPS.

.APPLIGAUON FILED SEPT. Q .915- v I I 1,1 4,564. Patented May 23,1916.

1 3 8BEETS-SHEET 3.

JESSE n OGDEN,- OF EAST AUBURN, CALIFORNIA.

SECTIONAL'HULL FOR. SHIPS.

T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jesse E. OGDEN, a.

- citizen of the United States, residing at East Auburn, in the county of Placer and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sectional Hulls for Ship's, of'which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful lower hull portions detachably connected in such a manner that in case of injury to the ship hull, of such a nature as would ()I'dlnarily cause sinking of the ship, the hull sections may be disconnected, permitting the a sinking of the lower portion of the hull and leaving the remaining portion of the hull as a raft 'upon which the crew and passengers may be safe.

In this connection, a still further object of my invention consists in constructing a.-

hull for a vessel including a plurality of decks, each formed with one or more hatchways provided with fluid tight closures and in forming the bull in upper and lower sections in such a manner that the upper section includes at least two of the decks of the vesselso that if it becomes necessary to' of my invention consists in the'provision of a novel means for detachably securing the hull sections together, and in the further provision of an inclosed runway supported below the lower deck of the upper hull section and from, such deck, the fastening devices being accessible from the runway and the upper deck being formed with hatchways by means of which the crew may escape to the upper deck after releasing the fastenings. v

With these and other ob ects in view, my

invention will be more fully described, illus trated in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically pointed out in the claims which are attached to and form a part of this application.

In' the drawings: Figure 1 is a vertical, transverse sectional view taken through a Y Specification of Letters Patent.

similar to that shown in ship hull constructed in accordance with my invention, Fig. 2 is a fragmentary longitudmal sectional view, showing the inside wall of the hull in elevation and illustrating cer- Patented May 23, 1916. Application filed September 9, 1915. Serial 1*1'0. 49,791.

ting edges separated; Fig. 4 is a detail per-.

spective view of the fastening means employed in Figs. 2 and 3' Fig. 5'is a view Fig. 2, illustrating a somewhat modified form of fastening device; Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional View taken on the line 66 of Fig. 5, showing further details of the fastening-mechanism there employed.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the same reference characters.

One embodiment of my invention, as illustrated in Figs.'l to 4 of the drawings, in-

cludes a ship hull having a lower hull section 10 and upper hull section 11. The lower hull section is so proportioned as to extend somewhat above the water level when the boat is normally loaded and is of conventional construction having the usual ribs 12, outer covering 13, spaced decks 14 and braces'or stanchions 15 interposed between the decks. Preferably, the upper deck 14 of the lower hull section is somewhat below the upper edge of the outer covering or shell 13 of such hull section. The upper hull section 11 includes upper rib members 16 supporting an outer covering or shell 17 and spaced decks 18 and l9'having braces at 20. This upper hull section is substantially of conventional construction and its ribs 15 form vertical continuations of the ribs 12 of the lower hull section while its wall or shell, at its lower edge, is proportioned to abut evenly against the upper edge of the lower hull section.

As a means for properly securing the hull sections, the upper hull section has secured to the inner and outer faces of its shell plates 21' and 22 which extend throughout the entire periphery of the hull section and which project at their lower edges below thewith the upper edges of the lower hull section secure the upper hull section against any possible lateral movement.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings, it will be seen that the upper ends of the lower rib sections 12 are reduced to form tongues 23 which will seat in the slots 21 formed in the lower ends of the upper rib sections 16, which sections extend below the lower edge of the upper hull section and preferably below the brace plates thereof; The lower ends of the upper rib sections seat upon the resultant shoulders 25 formed by reducing the thickness of the lower rib sections and the inter-fitting parts of the upper and lower rib sections are provided with transversely alined slots to receive a wedge 26 which firmly couples the .upper and lower rib sections together. It will, therefore, be seen that all possibility of independent vertical movement of the upper and lower hull sections is normally prevented. r

As best shown in Fig. l of the drawings,

the braces between the upper deck of the lower hull section and lower deck of the upper hull section are each formed in lower and upper sections 27 and 28, the adjacent edges of which abut one against the other and the upper brace sections have reinforcing plates 29 and 30 secured to their opposite faces to straddle the upper edges of the lower brace sections 27. This construction is the same as "the construction upon the outer shell of the vessel and needs no further description. Obviously, any masts, smoke stacks and the like which may project completely through the upper hull section and into the lower hull section will be provided with telescopic joints between the upper deck 14 and deck 18 in order to permit the release of the lower hull section in case of necessity.

It will of course be understood that all of the decks may be provided with as many hatchways as desired, and that the hatchways of all of the decks of the lower hull section may be of the usual type. The hatchways of the decks of the upper hull sections, as shown in connection with the upper deck 19 in' Fig. 1, are, however, provided with a sliding fluid tight closure 31 movable in guides 32secured to the lower face of the deck fin order that the hatchways 33 may be hermetically sealed in case of necessity. Obviously, the hatchways vessel between the upper deck of the lower hull section and lower deck of the upper hull section, being supported from the lower deck of the upper hull section bye vertical wall 35 which, with the flooring and deekto which the wall is attached, provides a peripheral runway 36 entirely around the hull of the vessel and free of attachment to the lower hul1' section. This runway should be fluid tight and may be provided at. suitable intervals and -between the decks with doors 37 which,

however, must be capable of being tightly closed. The lower decklS of the upperhull section is formed at suitable intervals with ,hatchwa'ys 38 leading from the runway 36 and" having suitable fluid tightclosures 39 affording passage to the space between the decks 18 and 19 of the upper hull section.

If, for any reason, the vessel is so'injured that, if normally constructed, it would sink,

due to the admission of water to the lower portion of the hull, instead of deserting the vessel and seeking refuge in lifeboats and hull section, permitting the lower hull sec-' tion to sink. In accomplishing this, the crew will enter the runway 36, closing the doors 37 tightly after them and will then drive out the wedges 36. Under these circumstances, it will be clear that as soon as suflicient water has entered the lower hull section, it will fall away from the upper hull section, leaving the latter on the surface! In the meantime, the crew may escape from the runway 36 to thespace between'the decks 18 and 19 and from this through the hatchway 33 to the upper deck of the upper hull section, of course closing all hatchways tightly after them. Obviously, all hatchways in the deck 18 will be closed before the sections'are detached, save those which communicate with the runway 36 which, as a matter of fact, forms part of the space between the decks 18 and 19. p

In Figs. 5 and 6, I have illustrated a slightly modified form of construction, the sole differencev consisting in the manner in which the upper and lower rib sections 12 and 16 are connected. In this form of my invention, the adjacent ends of the rib sections bear squarely against each other, with no interfitting joint, and each rib v:ec'tion is-provided with an L-shaped bracket 40,

the lateral arms offl wliich are perforated and project in vertical alinement with respect to each other. Connecting the brackets of each rib, and therefore holding the rib sections together, is a turnbuckle mechanism 41 of more or less conventional type.

This mechanism includes a stud 42formed at each end with a head 43, one head engaging against the lower face of the lower bracket and the other against the upper face of the lower end of a rectangular yoke 44. The opposite end of this yoke is provided with a tapped bore to receive the threaded shank of a second stud which projects through the opening of the upper bracket and which is formed at its outer or free end with a head 46.

Although I have illustrated and described my invention in all its details of construction, it will of course be understood that I do not wish to be limited to such details as various minor changes, within the scope of the appended claims, may be made at any time, without in the slightest degree departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is:

1. A hull for vessels including a lower hull section having ribs, an upper hull section having ribs, the ribs of one section engaging at their ends with the corresponding ribs of the other section, the ends of the ribs of one section being slotted to receive reduced ends of the ribs of the other section and the interlocking portions of the ribs being further slotted, and wedges driven through the slots of the rib sections to connect the ribs.

2. A hull for vessels including a lower hull section having ribs, an upper hull section having ribs, the ribs of one section engaging at their ends with the corresponding ribs of the other section, and connecting means between the ribs, said means including turn buckle connectionsbetween adjacent rib sections.

fastening means connecting the ribs, and

brace plates depending from the upper hull section to engage against the inner and outer faces of the lower hull section when the hull is assembled.

4. A hull for vessels including lower and upper hull sections, fastening means detachably connecting the sections, spaced decks in the upper hull section formed with hatchways, fluid tight closures for the hatchways, a fluid tight runway extending circumferentially of the hull within it and below the lower deck of the upper hull section and from which the fastening devices are accessible, and hatchways having fluid tight closures establishing communication between the runway and the space between the adjacent decks of the upper hull section.

v 5. A hull for vessels including upper and lower hull sections detachably connected, a deck forming a bottom for the upper hull section, a fluid tight runway supported below such deck, and hatchways having fluid tight closures opening through the deck and communicating with the runway.

6. A hull for vessels including lower and upper hull sections, fastening means detachably connecting the sections, a deck forming a bottom for the upper section, and a fluid tight runway supported by and below the deck and from which the fastening devices are accessible.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature.

JESSE E. OGDEN. [L.L;I 

